Prior to Saturday night, Manhattan had been Hofstra's Daddy at Draddy. That is, Hofstra just couldn't win at Draddy Gymnasium against the Manhattan College Jaspers, losing 6 straight in the Riverdale gym dating back to 1988.

But then, Charles Jenkins never played there for Hofstra in any of those 6 games. The Super Soph ended Hofstra's dreaded Draddy streak as he continued to play the hero role in this young season for the Pride.

Hofstra was down by 6 at the break and by 10 a minute into the second half before Jenkins led his team back, scoring 21 of his game-high 23 points in the second half on Saturday night, including the game's final four points to give Hofstra a four-point victory.

Jenkins answered a 7-0 Manhattan run that tied the game at 61-61, with a driving runner with 1:19 left, before sealing the win with a pair of free throws.

Hofstra might have put this one away sooner had they shot even a little better than their horrid 41% (7-17) at the line, which included a fairly poor 63% (5-8) by Jenkins, a normally very reliable 78% FT shooter.

In the end though, Jenkins was once again the late hero for already the third time in four Hofstra wins to open the season, as he finished the game making 9 of 18 field goals and grabbing 4 boards, while dishing out 4 assists and committing just 2 turnovers.

The Pride's next game is at home against winless Fordham (0-5), on a night when Hofstra will retire the jersey of former Hofstra great Steve Nisenson, who held Hofstra's all-time scoring record for 43 years until it was broken by Jenkins' teammate Antoine Agudio during Agudio's senior season last year.

If he continues on at his current pace, Hofstra will undoubtedly have a night to eventually retire Jenkins' number 22. Jenkins is currently on pace to break Agudio's career scoring record. He's now scored in double figures in 32 of his first 34 career games, and this season he's been Hofstra's leading scorer in all 5 of the Pride's games, including the game's high scorer in 4 of those games.

Jenkins actually wasn't under the radar. He was a two-time team MVP at Springfield Gardens HS and a known talent. He actually chose Hofstra over St. John's because Hofstra was on him right away, and he liked the interest that Hofstra showed in him both academically and with basketball. When he was still in high school, I recall Hofstra bringing him to one of the bigger home games, packed house, about 5,000 fans, loud, and Jenkins remarked that he loved the atmosphere and wanted to be part of that. Now, most Hofstra home games are not like that, but they would be if Jenkins continues to lead the Pride to victories as he has in the past four games. In fact, he mentioned to me after last week's Old Westbury win how much fun it was just to finally play the first home game that night, with the Lions' Den student section making noise, etc., after three games down in SC to open the season.